Internet

While surfing, I came across this page from PAETEC about how it sells Fixed Wireless services. Fixed Wireless is not cellular. It's using radios and spectrun (mainly unlicensed spectrum) to connect a customer premise to the Internet or to another location.

In this case, PAETEC is using licensed spectrum to deliver from 20Mbps to 1Gig with "99.999% (or better) circuit availability".

As one door closes, right? Well, WISPA is putting together a deal with DirecTV so that it's mainly residential wireless ISP base can grab some cash switching people from cable TV and Internet to fixed wireless internet access and satellite TV - kind of a cut the cable promotion.

It used to be that independent ISP's had to worry mainly about the ILEC, but in the residential (consumer) market, the worry is cable - Comcast, Cox, TWC, BrightHouse, CableVision and Charter.

The funny thing is that some of the MSO's are collapsing their wholesale division. Just like the ILEC's, the MSO's don't really want someone else to own the customer. So even as Charter opens up its wholesale cable modem program to FISPA members, I have to wonder how long it will be in existence.

Channel Partners Expo in Boston in 2008 when the cable guys were all lined up on a panel handing out crumbs of info about their newly developed channel program, all anyone wanted to know was how much commission and would there be an added spiff.

Exhibit A: Fairpoint Communications. Small rural telco merges with New England Verizon assets and billions in debt. The 3 state utility commissions were uneasy about the merger to begin with. Two years later, Fairport is struggling to get out of bankruptcy court.

Ethernet over Copper is picking up steam. Hatteras Networks has something to do with that as they are the vendor for Metro Ethernet over Copper for former BellSouth. XO also has EoC in most of their markets. I saw an ad today from Tele-Pacific's EoC. Many of my clients - regional CLEC's - are selling G.SHDSL based services.

A source says that the labor force internally has shifted around so that the FiOS department is a separate stand-alone department without access from other departments. In other words, FiOS is a silo. That's not that unusual in big corporations, especially telcos.

TWC and AT&T both trialed metered Internet access over wireline broadband. As far as I know, both trials were not that successful.

The big issue for ISP's is that the bandwidth consumption keeps increasing (as the Internet becomes the communication avenue as well as entertainment and news outlet). This doesn't bode well for Duopoly revenue long-term. Why?

AT&T and VZ are spending a fortune to deliver TV via tripple-play to consumers.

"Frankly, I would have preferred plain and simple Title II reclassification through a declaratory ruling and limited, targeted forbearance--wiping the slate clean of all question marks. The quicker we can bring some sense of surety and stability to the present confusion emanating from the Comcast court decision, the better off consumers--and industry, too--will be."

Last Friday, FCC Chairman Genachowski received a letter from three law professors, all experts on telecommunications law and open Internet rules. "Tim Wu (known for first popularizing the concept of Network Neutrality), Susan Crawford (former White House advisor on telecommunications policy), and Marvin Ammori (lead attorney and representative of intervenors in the FCC's Comcast proceeding and court appeal), called on the FCC to reclassify broadband transmission service as a Title II telecommunications service." [save-the-internet]

Since AT&T blogged about it without mentioning Crawford's name, I know that the spin machine is in effect. But the FCC must act fast before the Duopoly can mount a PR campaign and a war machine. I'm a firm believer that anything that a Fortune 1000 company lobbies against is best for the consumer. And every time AT&T wants anything, it usually means it's time to reach for the KY.

For a detailed legal explanation of why broadband was never classified as a Title II telecommunications service, read this.